Rep. Nick Smith, R-Mich., says that sometime late Nov. 21
or early in the morning Nov. 22, somebody on the House floor
threatened to redirect campaign funds away from his son Brad,
who is running to succeed him, if he didn't support the Medicare
prescription bill. This according to the Associated Press. Robert
Novak further reports,

On the House floor, Nick Smith was told business interests
would give his son $100,000 in return for his father's vote.
When he still declined, fellow Republican House members told
him they would make sure Brad Smith never came to Congress. After
Nick Smith voted no and the bill passed, [Rep.] Duke Cunningham
of California and other Republicans taunted him that his son
was dead meat.

Speaking through Chief of Staff Kurt Schmautz, Smith assured
Chatterbox that Novak's account is "basically accurate."
That means Smith was an eyewitness to a federal crime. United
States Code,
Title 18, Section 201, "Bribery of public officials
and witnesses," states that under federal law, a person
commits bribery if he

"directly or indirectly, corruptly gives, offers or promises
anything of value to any public official or person who has been
selected to be a public official, or offers or promises any
public official or any person who has been selected to be a public
official to give anything of value to any other person or entity
[italics Chatterbox's], with intent to influence any official
act. "

Promising to direct $100,000 to Rep. Smith's son's campaign
clearly meets the legal definition of bribery. The only question,
then, is who to prosecute. The AP had Smith attributing threats
to support his son's opponent to "House GOP leaders,"
but that was a paraphrase, and it is possible Smith meant someone
else when he spoke of an actual offer of $100,000. We know House
Speaker Dennis Hastert spent a lot of time that night trying
to win over Smith. The trade publication CongressDaily spotted
Hastert around 4 a.m., about an hour into the extended Medicare
roll call, placing his arm around Smith and gesturing. Twenty
minutes later, CongressDaily saw Hastert work Smith over again,
this time with Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson.
At 5:30 a.m., with less than half an hour left until the final
tally, CongressDaily saw Hastert and Thompson give it one final
try. The Washington Post's David Broder, in his Nov. 23 column,
wrote that House aides "recounted that Hastert said Smith's
help was vital to the party and the presidenta fitting
gift at the end of a long careerand suggested it would
also help Smith's son, who plans to run for the seat." That's
pretty close to Novak's version.

But according to Hastert spokesman John Feehery (as quoted
by the AP), Hastert merely said "that a vote on this would
help him and help his son because it would be a popular vote."
Ordinarily, Chatterbox would consider that a laughably weak denial.
But Feehery told Chatterbox that Smith had personally assured
the speaker that he wasn't the individual he'd complained about.
Schmautz, Smith's chief of staff, said Smith had further clarified
that the perpetrator not only wasn't Hastert; it wasn't Thompson
or House Majority Leader Tom "the Hammer" DeLay, either.

Obviously Smith doesn't want to alienate the GOP establishment
by hurling criminal accusations at whoever this phantom bribe-giver
may be. But it's a little late for that. If Smith witnessed an
attempted bribery, he has an obligation as a citizenand
even more so, as member of Congressto make that person's
identity known to law enforcement officials. Marc Miller, a Washington
attorney who advises clients on ethics issues, told Chatterbox
that what Novak described not only looked like "a slam-dunk
violation of the bribery law" but probably also included
"a smorgasbord of other criminal violations." Rep.
Smith, Miller said, "should really be sharing the specifics
with the Justice Department."

So, Congressman. Enough with the guessing games. Who tried
to bribe you?

[Update, Dec. 2: In a Nov. 28 commentary in the Lenawee (Michigan)
Connection, Rep. Smith himself made reference to "bribes
and special deals" that "were offered to convince members
to vote yes," though he shed little further light on who,
his own case, the perpetrator or perpetrators were:

Other members [i.e., not Hastert] and groups made offers of
extensive financial campaign support and endorsements for my
son, Brad, who is running for my seat. They also made threats
of working against Brad if I voted no.

If the Bush Justice department hasn't made inquiries about
this yet, it isn't doing its job.

The price of freedom is eternal
vigilance. Yet it requires knowledge and constancy.We recommend
that you add these books to your library on the theory that we
must know our enemies. We must know why Machiavelli's teachings
threaten America's democracy and freedom. Ask yourself, "How
can people vote intelligently on issues based upon false information?"
Lies attack the heart of a democratic society. Understand why
you must oppose Machiavellian methods with every fiber in your
being.

If you prefer making your purchase through the web's largest
book store, we've anticipated your need and have prepared this
link to the home page of Amazon.com. If you have the time and
a good eye for bargains, you'll find them there, in the middle
of Amazon's quaint clutter. One can almost smell the dust trying
to settle down after the swish and swosh of the fast paced deals.
Just click on the little ad below and you'll be there in a moment: